I've been doing bird walks for Linnaean for many many years now -- so many years that I even got some kind of plaque or certificate from the organization. Linnaean is the second oldest natural history organization in the U.S. It was founded at the American Museum of Natural History in 1878 and shares its name (although not its spelling) with the even older Linnean Society of London; both are named for Karol (or Carl) Linnaeus, the founder of modern taxonomy. The latest of these 'walks' started at the Shinnecock Inlet yesterday morning, worked its way down Dune Road all the way to Pike's Beach in Westhampton Dunes and then to airport grasslands -- Gabreski or Westhampton Airport in the Dwarf Pine Plains and ex-Grumman in Calverton -- ending up in the nearby VOR field directly opposite the north fence of the Grumman property. Most of the people on the walk were from New York but there was an East End contingent as well including the East Quogue birders, Eileen Schwinn and Mike Higgiston.

Shinnecock Inlet was busy with terns, gulls and cormorants but only a few lingering Gannets to represent the pelagics. On the Shinnecock stretch of Dune Road, there were some overflying Glossy Ibises, a couple of Piping Plovers, a Black-bellied Plover without a black belly, overflying Killdeer, a pair of Black Skimmers flying and perched, and several Black-crowned Night Herons. Mike Higgiston's attempts to lure out Clapper Rails by hitting two stones together loudly did not seem to work but a rail laughing call was heard close to the road and also further out in the marsh indicating that the rails were indeed there even if stubbornly unseen. At the small Quogue boardwalk refuge, both marsh sparrows were seen (good looks at the Saltmarsh Sparrow which even perched on the boardwalk railing for a viewing; Seaside Sparrow was only briefly seen in the reeds). Also good views of Willow Flycatcher and a fledgling Tree Swallow sitting on boardwalk. At Pike's Beach, with a rapidly rising tide, we elected to use the platform overlooking a small sand island in the bay. In addition to the gulls (including many Laughing Gulls) and terns (Common and Least), there was a somewhat surprising collection of shorebirds here including small numbers of Red Knots in breeding plumage, a few Short-billed Dowitchers not in breeding plumage, a couple of Dunlin and assorted peeps, mainly Sandlerings and Semipalmated Sandpipers. Surprising because we're still a couple of weeks short of the start of the 'fall' shorebird season.

Gabreski Airport, now heavily fenced and more difficult to bird than before, produced soaring Turkey Vultures, Eastern Bluebird, Vesper and Chipping Sparrows plus unseen singing Horned Lark and Grasshopper Sparrow. Grasshopper Sparrows were more easily seen and heard by the eastern runway at ex-Grumman in Calverton along with Eastern Meadowlark and what was almost certainly a breeding Savannah Sparrow pair (or an adult and young bird). Also seen here: American Kestrel and Wild Turkey. Finally, at the VOR field we saw a female or young Orchard Oriole and two beautiful Red Fox. The complete mammal list of the day also included several Woodchucks or Groundhogs, many White-tailed Deer and a fat rat at Shinnecock Inlet. The bird count was 66 species.

Here are Eileen Schwinn's photos of a fledgling Tree Swallow on the Quogue boardwalk, a Common Buckeye butterfly (not so common out here) at Pike's and the Grumman Savannah Sparrow on a bush next to the runway.




Eric Salzman